Growing up in a horse-oriented family is something many riders dream about. The ability to step astride a horse at a young age, lovingly held in place by a parent who knows exactly how formative horses can be, provides a gateway to the infamous “horse bug” that afflicts many of us today. But what about when your dad is Phillip Dutton—a multi-Olympian and an Olympic medalist to boot?
Inherently, the Dutton progeny were predisposed to enter the horse world, and that proved to be true for more than one of the six-time Olympian’s children. First, it was older daughter Lee Lee, who spent a lengthy time in the saddle before a freak accident dashed her riding dreams as a young adult. Following in her footsteps was her younger sister, Olivia, who began dressing up in riding clothes and following her sister and her dad out to the barn from the time she could walk.
For both Phillip and his wife, Evie, the goal was to allow their kids to do whatever called them, whether that involved horses or not. While her siblings ended up pursuing interests outside of riding, Olivia went on to become a rising eventing star in her own right.
‘My Dad Is a Big Deal’
Olivia was about 10 when she realized just how big of a deal her dad was in the sport of eventing. “It was at Kentucky. I remember that being the first show where I realized my dad was a big deal,” she laughed. “He was just ‘my dad’ up to that point, but there everyone wanted his autograph, which was pretty cool. Since then, I’ve always wanted to compete at the upper levels and kind of follow the same path.”
As the budding horsewomen grew into young adulthood, her talent became undeniable, and it wasn’t long before she was ready to move up to the Advanced level. At that point, Olivia took over the reins of off-track Thoroughbred Sea of Clouds from Phillip and the owners involved with the Sea of Clouds Syndicate. Phillip was confident the gelding would be the perfect mount to safely show her the ropes of eventing’s top levels. The gelding had already competed at the five-star level—and finished as high as 10th place (Kentucky 2022)—with Phillip in the saddle, and Olivia grew up knowing “Socs” since he was just 3.
In 2024, the talented pair competed in the Cosequin® Lexington CCI4*-S at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event, which is run alongside the hallmark CCI5*-L event at the end of April in Lexington, Kentucky, where they finished 13th in what was just their third CCI4*-S together at the time. Later on in 2024, Olivia and Socs traveled to the Netherlands to compete in the Military Boekelo CCIO4*-L, as well as The Event at TerraNova CCI4*-L in November, where they came in seventh.
Building Character
As a young horseman in his home country of Australia, Phillip discovered the grind involved with eking out a career in the sport of eventing and learned how to handle every aspect of horse care. He shod his own horses, took care of their basic veterinary needs and put all the training on them as they moved up the levels.
To that end, he fervently believes that adversity is key to building character—and if an eventer is to be truly worth her salt, she must indeed have a strong backbone. So, while Olivia continues to have the benefit of learning from her dad and his wealth of knowledge, Phillip also recognizes that any success his daughter finds in the sport will be a result of her own talent, grit and passion.
“If you look back at your life and what you’ve accomplished, a lot of times you realize that you developed and prospered because of adversity. You’re not going to learn a lot by always riding perfect horses who do everything for you. On the other hand, it sounds very romantic to bring along a young horse, but it’s also very difficult. So, it’s a balance. And I try to stress that in both parenting and eventing,” Phillip said. “She has a couple horses she’s bringing up now and it’s going to be challenging for her. But that’s kind of what it’s all about. It teaches you so much about riding and working with horses and how to get the best out of them, as well as developing that partnership, so they’re always on your side.”
Phillip has great confidence that Olivia will be able to use the knowledge she’s learned from riding and excelling with Sea of Clouds at the upper levels of eventing to bring along her younger prospects who need a rider with the experience to teach and lead them.
“After being in the sport for as long as I have, I know the consequences of not being properly prepared or trying to ride at a higher level than I should have been or riding the wrong horse. So, our priority as parents was that if she wants to do this sport, she’s going to do it right and learn properly and be mounted well,” Phillip noted. “Olivia is quite ambitious, so it’s been about making sure she’s very prepared. I think she’d like to move up a bit quicker than we’ve let her.”
Learning From Each Other
Throughout Olivia’s career, Phillip has been her primary coach. This is a nuance of their relationship that they’ve learned to navigate over time—and as Olivia has gotten older and matured as a rider.
“I respect his opinion, so it’s always worked pretty well for us, which has been really nice. I also have help from other people, so it’s not always just him, which provides a good balance,” Olivia said. “He’s starting to trust me more to do my own thing. But I think we’ve done a pretty good job of making it work. Sometimes between a parent and child that’s hard to do all the time.”
One of the biggest character traits Olivia tries to mirror from her dad is his humility. “I’ve always really respected how humble he is,” she noted. “He never talks highly about himself or about himself much at all. He’s very modest, and I try to be like that myself.”
In addition to honing her skills in the saddle, Olivia says her dad also taught her how to be a smart, conscientious horsewoman, who always prioritizes her horses’ health and happiness. “When he started out in the outback in Australia, he did everything on his own,” she said. “He knows horses really well and taught me that it’s all about the horse and being a good horseman. I’ve always respected that a lot, too.”
Does the young eventing protégée feel any pressure, carrying Phillip’s name and legacy on her back?
“A little bit,” Olivia laughed. “I’m very lucky because I’ve kind of just grown into this position. It wasn’t like all of a sudden I felt this pressure. I try to think of myself as my own individual. I ride for my family and obviously want to make my dad and everyone else who helps us proud. But I also think of myself as myself, and I ride for myself, too.”
Managing a Parent’s Fears
Phillip is proud of his daughter. But he admits watching her go out of big four-star (and maybe one day, five-star) start boxes is “bloody terrifying!” And after Lee Lee’s riding accident that resulted in a traumatic brain injury, both Phillip and Evie navigated their own internal fears about their kids’ safety.
“Lee Lee’s accident was pretty hard to handle, especially while also knowing that Olivia wanted to keep riding and competing. Guilty is probably the wrong word, but I felt responsible because I was her coach,” Phillip recalled. “But a friend told me, ‘Phil, it was Lee Lee’s decision to ride. She loved to ride.’ It sounds very simple, but it helped me understand a bit better. It was obviously Olivia’s decision to keep going. And I didn’t want to be the person to tell her she couldn’t do it. Our attitude was that if she was going to do it, we were going to support her to make sure she was safe and coached well—and that she’s always prepared when she competes.”
But as a father, Phillip admits that he takes comfort in the tutelage and preparation that he and Evie have worked hard to instill in their daughter.
“It’s certainly much easier when you’re doing it yourself. You’re responsible there. It’s harder when Olivia’s on her own. With all the live streams now, I get to watch her a lot. Instead of just shutting my eyes and hoping, I concentrate on watching how she’s thinking, how’s she’s riding and reacting,” Phillip said. “It’s rewarding to see her really enjoying it, too. She’s in it for the right reasons. She loves the process, the horses, teaching them and learning how to get the best out of them.”
